The Russellville School Board Building and Grounds Committee discussed during its monthly meeting Tuesday a lack of state funding for upgrading and maintaining school facilities.

"I think we need to know why other districts are getting money and we're not," said Nathan Barber, assistant to the superintendent/business manager. "At this point in time, there is no funding that's going to be available to the Russellville School District."

The state had studied Russellville's facilities and found a $30 million need, but the formula for funding facilities is based on the local wealth and the number of students, Barber said.

Little Rock is being used as the standard, with every other district being brought up even with it, Barber said. Little Rock's standard is about $107 per student meal, while Russellville is about $116. Based on the meal formula, Russellville ranks 246th on list of highest-funded schools in the state, while Hector, which is in position to receive 73 percent facility-improvement funding, ranks 11th.

The state takes 75 percent of the school's tax revenue collections and incorporate it into the foundation and categorical funding for the 2006 fiscal year. Russellville is set to receive $5,400 per student, but Barber hopes to see that number increased.

He said about $37 million in state money for school facilities had started to be distributed and used for upgrading school facilities this year before the Arkansas Supreme Court handed down its recent ruling, which was a follow-up to the long-running Lake View lawsuit.

The state Supreme Court found the funding system for public schools continues to be inadequate, that legislators failed to study the schools' needs and fund them adequately and the $1.9 billion plan to repair crumbling school buildings was "grossly underfunded."

State legislators have until Dec. 1, 2006 to fund schools adequately.

The board recently finished reviewing a 400-500-page facilities assessment by the state that looked at all the facilities in the district. Corrections and updates were made and sent to the state. Now, a three-year plan for the schools must be submitted by February.

Other school districts are being hit hard by a lack of facility funding. Bentonville will receive 9 percent, Fayetteville, 5 percent and Mountain Home, 3 percent.

"If we are going to continue the quality, safe, clean, comfortable educational environment that we've been providing for our students, it's going to be us that's going to do that," Barber said. "They (legislators) have opted not to give us any assistance at all and that's the law that they've (legislators) passed."